Each year, more than one million invasive cancers are diagnosed in the United States alone. Despite improvements in treatments and many successes, cancer continues to be a significant cause of death and incalculable suffering.
Considerable evidence suggests that cancer cells have metabolic requirements that are distinctly different from those of the vast majority of somatic cells. Although the differences in the metabolic requirements of cancer cells have been exploited to therapeutic advantage in certain specific malignancies such as L-asparaginase in childhood leukemia, no generalized mechanism to exploit the unique metabolism of cancer cells has been devised.
There remains a need for additional drugs and methods for treating cancer.